10.16.2012

Band Break-Ups

There is nothing more frustrating than really falling in love with a band, investing time and money into their music for years, then having that band break up.

The summer I turned nine, my dad got me Nickel Creek to keep me pre-occupied (silent) during our drive to Virginia's coast. I fell in love with the band; I listened to "The Lighthouses Tale" so many times that I can still sing it from memory, "When You Come Back Down" is so much better to me now than it was back then, and for some reason I used to really love "The Fox" (it's kind of an awful song, but I think, i hope, nine year old was more interested in the music than the lyrics). This band was amazing, and then they disbanded in 2007.

I first heard Meese when iTunes offered their song, "Next In Line," as the 'single of the week' sometime during my high school years, and loved it. The band had so much potential and had toured with so many 'big name' bands before releasing their first full length album in 2009, then they broke up in 2010. Seriously? At least try to make it a full year before throwing away your music careers. I would be more upset about Love, She Wrote breaking up, but I really only had one album from them and, though I really did adore "Bling Bling Baby" and "Outlaw Josey Wales," the other songs, like "That Girl is Fierce," sound reminiscent of any other boy group in the 2000's, like Never Shout Never or All Time Low. It's a little sad that they broke up, but their sound was not especially unique.

Someone gave me Hey Monday my freshman year of college (one of the best things about living in a shitty dorm is that you will get a lot of different music) and "I Don't Wanna Dance" became my new, go-to I'm-angry-so-leave-me-the-fuck-alone-while-I-ruin-my-cochlear-hair-cells-and-get-over-it song. So, when I was watching The Voice (I was not in control of the remote at the time) and found out that Cassadee Pope was a contestant because the band was on a hiatus, my only thought was "well, that was a nice short run". Does anyone try to make their band last long enough to have a five year anniversary anymore?

ALL CAPS may not have broken up, but the band has gone on an indefinite hiatus due to Kristina Horner's vocal nodes. While she has been unable to sing, Luke Conard, the other lead singer of the duo, has been working on projects with different singers and many have taken this to mean that the band officially broke up. I adore this band; if I had to choose a band that I loved more than Lady Danville, it would be ALL CAPS (who doesn't love songs about robots/zombies/summertime romances?) I'll just continue to check their band and youtube pages, in hopes that they get back together soon.

The Hush Sound went on hiatus a few years ago, but they might be getting back together (?). The band has not made any announcement on a band reunion, but they have announced that they will be going on a short 'reunion' tour (only eight shows) and Bob Morris has made comments on Twitter suggesting that the band get back together. The Hush Sound is some sort of great equalizer; everyone, no matter their music style, seems to like the band, or at least one of their songs. "A Dark Congregation" was all I listened to for months when I was fifteen, and the piano on "You Are the Moon" is just beautiful, while "Sweet Tangerine" and "Honey" take a less (composition-wise) serious route, while being just as great as the aforementioned songs. It's difficult to even choose a favorite song from their albums, as each song is so different from the previous one (my immediate answer is "The Artist," then I take "Magnolia" and "Echo" into consideration, and then start thinking about "We Intertwined," "Wine Red," and "Not Your Concern"). Somewhere along the way, this turned into an advertisement for The Hush Sound, but they are amazing and, if you did not already miss them, this should help. I'll just keep hoping for some footage from their first concert after October 26th that features a new song and a re-uniting of the band.

If your favorite band breaks up, just hope that they'll pull some sort of Guided by Voices or Creed thing and get back together after they realize their solo careers aren't working out too well; not that I'm hoping for them to fail, it's only that, when you like a band, you never want them to break-up.